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George
Washington Littlefield was born June 21,1842 on a plantation
near Como, Panola County, Mississippi. At eight years of age,
his family moved to Gonzales, Texas.
He
enlisted in the Confederate Army as a second sergeant under
Captain Isham G. Jones, 8th Texas Cavalry, Terry's Texas
Rangers. He was later promoted to Captain. On December 26, 1863
a shell fragment struck his cartridge box on his left hip and
was serverly wounded. He was promoted to Major as he lay on the
ground. He was not expected to live and was unconscious for
almost three weeks, being kept alive by morphine and brandy. His
body servant, Nathan Stokes, nursed him back to health. After
healing well enough to ride, he and Nathan returned to Gonzales.
He started civilian life as a
farmer but began driving cattle to market in Kansas. He made
huge sums of money and began buying ranches; the LIT, the LFD,
and the Plum Creek near Kyle, Texas. He moved to Austin and
organized the American National Bank and built the Littlefield
Building at 6th and Congress, which boasted the first elevator
in Austin.
Littlefield was a member of the
University of Texas Board of Regents and the single largest
donor to the University. He donated the Littlefield Collection
for Southern History and on the south mall he erected statues of
his heroes; Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Albert Sydney
Johnston, John H. Reagan and Gov. James S. Hogg. He died
November 10, 1920. The University suspended classes for the day
in observance of his funeral.
He is buried in the family plot
in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin with his wife; Alice Payne, a nurse
of Mrs. Littlefield's; and his devoted servant, Nathan Stokes.
His headstone reads: Major George W. Littlefield CSA 1842-1920,
"A Great Man Has Fallen"
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